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from Spiritual Seeker 77
http://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/post/183123134736
from http://spiritualseeker77.tumblr.com/
#spiritual
Holistic healing advice, tips and tricks including mindfulness, meditation, aromatherapy, crystal healing, relaxation, spiritual inspiration and Buddhism put together by lightworker and artist Pixie Copley
Base chakra stones boost sex drive, increase interest in life and help circulation. This chakra is located at base of the spine & governs sexuality and survival. See list of red and black chakra stones. Also called root chakra.
Bastnasite Meaning & Use: This stone works via the sacral chakra to release fear and assist change. Helps to creatively manifest your dreams into reality. Good healing stones that aid herbalists to connect with nature spirits.
Cinnabar Meaning & Use: a stone of mysticism and spiritual transformation, brings increased wealth to your business. It aids mystic vision, enhanced communication and inspired thinking.
Dr Charles Shepherd, Hon. Medical Adviser, ME Association.
We are pleased to announce that the 2019 edition of the ME Association’s authoritative Clinical and Research Guide (The ‘Purple Book’) has now been published and it’s easier to access than ever before!
The guide covers symptoms, assessment, diagnosis, illness management, pharmacological treatments and much, much, more. It informs, educates and helps raise awareness of this all too often misunderstood disease.
It directs readers to more detailed ME Association leaflets from our extensive online library, and summarises all relevant published research. And, it also includes over 600 references to key research papers and clinical trial results.
How to buy your 2019 edition of the MEA Purple Book:
Additions, updates and changes contained in the 2019 edition include:
This 152-page authoritative publication represents the most comprehensive, evidence-based summary currently available and contains everything that health professionals and patients need to know about this devastating neurological disease.
Kindle Review received from Paul R. Fleischmann, M.D.:
“I want to thank you for the outstanding Kindle book: ME/CFS/PVFS, 2019 edition. I appreciated the way that almost every sentence in the book is referenced to an authoritative text.”
“The prose was economical, created to convey the highest density information in the briefest time with the busy professional reader in mind.”
“The range of knowledge was astounding and enviable. You walked me around the topic from more angles than I would have expected. Every sentence was carefully toned to avoid conclusion or endorsement that is not justified by the literature.”
“Best of all, the definitive tone backed up by the hundreds of references, makes your eBook simultaneously a perfect vehicle for educating doctors, and a powerful brief against anyone undermining the reality of the diagnosis of ME/CFS.”
“Therefore, your cool scientific text clearly reveals itself to be a passion for compassion.”
Free Purple Book for health professionals!
We have funds in the ME Association education budget to continue providing free copies of the Purple Book to any health professional who would like one or who is nominated to receive one by a patient.
We just need to know the name(s) and surgery/hospital address:
When the Purple Book is sent to health professionals, it also comes with covering letter from myself and a copy of the letter from the Workwell Foundation in America which points out the dangers of inappropriate graded exercise therapy (GET).
The new edition, with its updates and new index, is a weightier book than previously, and unfortunately postage charges for and from the UK will be increasing from April this year. So, it has been necessary for us to increase the cost from £8.00 to £9.00 for UK orders (and similarly for orders to Europe and the ROW) and we have done similarly for the Kindle version to keep things fair.
As a relatively small charity it is necessary I am afraid for us to charge for this extensive guide which incurs the time-costs relating to research, preparation, printing/collation and distribution. And much of what we receive in payment is spent on providing free copies to health professionals which we do almost daily via post and at medical and research conferences and parliamentary events etc.
We are always happy to receive feedback from people with ME/CFS and from health professionals and if you would like to do so, then please get in touch.
More information:
Guest blog by Jill Piggot.
Sadly, we’ve heard that M.E. patient advocate and veteran of the Royal Free outbreak, Pauline Ovenden has passed away. She will be greatly missed.
Pauline was a founder member of the Herefordshire ME/CFS/FMS Group 33 years ago, and part of a team that promoted a set of guidelines to local health authorities about M.E.
She also represented the Herefordshire ME/CFS/FMS Group at NHS Worcestershire and Herefordshire ME/CFS Local Multi-Disciplinary Team (LMDT) steering group meetings, and the West Midlands ME Groups Consortium.
Pauline was a survivor from the Royal Free Hospital outbreak in 1955. She was highly articulate, utterly dedicated to the process of informing the public about M.E.; and as a Royal Free veteran she carried more authority than the rest of us.
Soon after publication of the Report to the Chief Medical Officer on ME/CFS in January 2002, the Guardian featured Pauline’s story its front page:
‘For half a century, Pauline Ovenden has felt unable to talk to anyone in the medical profession about what is wrong with her, even though she was once a nurse.’
‘In 1955, she was working at the Royal Free hospital in London when large numbers of staff were felled by a mysterious illness. Nobody understood what was happening, but in late July, with 70 nurses and other staff sick, the hospital was closed…’
‘Mrs Ovenden and many others believe that an unknown virus was brought into the hospital which acted as a trigger for the ME that she has suffered ever since. The early symptoms were malaise and headache, often with depression and tearfulness, according to Melvin Ramsay who investigated at the time…’
“I only dress on the days I go shopping. Getting dressed drains away the energy I need to do little things in the house.”
“About seven years ago I went to bed in the afternoon, which I never used to do. I then went to get out of bed to cook a meal and my legs wouldn’t hold me.”
She wishes for more research and understanding. “One of my GPs said it is a living hell. I said thank you – that is the first time anybody has understood.”
Guardian, Health, ‘’I tried to pretend I didn’t feel as ill as I did’, 2002.
In 2007 Pauline was awarded the Herefordshire Voluntary Action ‘Volunteer of the Year’ Award in appreciation for her work for sufferers nationally and locally, and on a personal basis.
It is very clear from the messages of condolence that I have read, Pauline will be missed by her many friends. The Worchester Social Group has also carried this news on their website.
We understand that Pauline’s funeral is on Friday 1st March at Hereford crematorium, at 3.00pm.
A selection from the many messages of condolence:
“I am very sad to hear this news, my friend for many years”
“The sad loss of a stalwart supporter of ME sufferers”
“My condolences to the family. RIP Pauline”
“Over the years I had the greatest respect and admiration for Pauline, both as a person and friend, and as a fearsome and knowledgeable campaigner for ME. I know she was widely respected throughout the ME world. Pauline will be greatly missed”
“My deepest condolences to her family and many friends”
“Although I never met her face to face I cherish all contacts I had with her over many years”
“Such sad news, to hear of her passing.”
Epidote stimulates abundance & prosperity. Aka Pistacite, it is a catalyst for change as it emphasizes dominant traits and aids you to raise your vibration to help you become better. Dream Quartz is Epidote and Actinolite in quartz.
Medscape, CDC Expert Commentary, 25 February, 2019.
My name is Dr Elizabeth Unger and I am chief of CDC’s Chronic Viral Diseases Branch, which houses the myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) program.
An estimated 836,000 to 2.5 million Americans suffer from ME/CFS, a serious, long-term illness that can severely impair the ability of those affected to live normal lives. But the majority of those affected are not diagnosed, and many struggle with symptoms for years before receiving a diagnosis.
The absence of a definitive diagnostic test contributes to this problem. In addition, most medical schools in the United States do not include ME/CFS in their physician training.
Less than one third of medical school curricula and less than half of medical textbooks in the United States address ME/CFS, so many healthcare providers need more information about this condition.
When I meet with those living with ME/CFS and their loved ones, the overarching concern that I hear is the difficulty finding good healthcare from informed and compassionate providers.
To address this need, we released an updated CDC website about ME/CFS for healthcare providers in July 2018. The new site was designed specifically with clinicians in mind. It offers information about how clinicians can better assess and help their patients manage this illness.
The new content includes:
ME/CFS is a complex, chronic, debilitating illness with systemic effects. It’s characterized by reduced ability to perform activities that were well tolerated pre-illness, accompanied by profound fatigue not improved by rest, and lasting for more than 6 months.
A hallmark of ME/CFS is that symptoms can worsen after physical, mental, or emotional effort, a manifestation known as postexertional malaise. Patients with ME/CFS also have unrefreshing sleep.
Other common symptoms are orthostatic intolerance, cognitive impairment, and pain. As can be observed in people with other long-term chronic illnesses, secondary psychological symptoms such as depression and anxiety may also be present in some patients with ME/CFS.
ME/CFS is a biological illness, not a psychological disorder. Patients with ME/CFS are neither malingering nor seeking secondary gain. These patients have a variety of abnormalities that affect multiple systems, such as:
A healthcare provider can make the diagnosis of ME/CFS based on a thorough medical history and physical examination, as well as a targeted workup with screening laboratory tests for other fatiguing illnesses.
While there are currently no diagnostic or confirmatory tests, or US Food and Drug Administration–approved drugs specifically for the treatment of ME/CFS, patients benefit from a thorough medical evaluation and good clinical care. Helping patients achieve relief from symptoms and improved quality of life are the main goals of treatment.
In working toward these goals, it’s important to prevent harm that can occur from triggering postexertional malaise. It’s also vital to acknowledge the clinical significance of the condition and to validate the experience and concerns of patients and their loved ones. This acknowledgement often brings patients and families a sense of support and strengthens trust between patients and providers.
It is important to emphasize that anyone can develop ME/CFS. While it is more common in women, and most common in people between 40 and 60 years of age, the illness affects children, adolescents, and adults of both sexes and all ages.
Besides information for healthcare providers, the updated ME/CFS website lists resources for families, patients, and schools, including patients’ personal accounts of living with ME/CFS, called Voice of the Patient.
We invite you to review the information on the website and hope that it will help ensure that clinicians like yourself are informed about how to recognize and manage this debilitating illness. You can provide timely diagnosis and appropriate care for patients with ME/CFS. Thank you.
Web Resources:
Analcime stimulates creative gifts and boosts mental clarity. Use to create rapport with colleagues and to improve personal relationships. Good healing attributes.
Albite stimulates the crown chakra & activates the brain which aids clear thinking and improves memory. Third eye stone that boosts intuition, inspiration & psychic gifts, enhances lucid dreaming. Heals brain related issues.
Lithium Quartz has a deeply calming quite beautiful and harmonious vibration. It aids release of stress, tension and anxiety. Use this powerful stone for meditation and to connect to the higher realms.
Chiastolite has a natural black cross within it. Meaning & Use: Also known as the Cross Stone, it was used in olden times for protection. Use in meditation to connect to akashic records to learn about past lives.
Want help with finding your spirit guide? Use specific meditation every day to contact spirit guides waiting to work with you. See list of helpful crystals to use during meditation.
Malachite creates strong barriers to block negative entities. Enhances willpower, boosts creativity, stimulates coincidence or synchronicity, aids imagination & intuition, has good healing attributes.
If you’re not fitting in, you are AWESOME!!!
Stay strong fellow spiritual seekers - you are all awesome!!!
Bauxite mineral has useful metaphysical attributes for obtaining answers. Helps you to let go of angry feelings and release emotional issues. Stimulates feelings of happiness.
Heliodor boosts mental telepathy, manifestation, willpower, confidence & creativity. Known as magical stones, bright yellow Golden Beryl balances the mind & will. Good healing attributes aid stress, tiredness & more.
Royal College Surgeons Website Blog by Dr Nina Muirhead.
It’s a great feeling when we meet a new outpatient that we know how to manage surgically. Unfortunately, every surgical specialty experiences a subgroup of patients who present with symptoms that cannot be resolved by surgery.
Dr Nina Muirhead is working to help improve medical knowledge of ME/CFS.
These symptoms may span immune, neurological and vascular systems within the body or brain and may manifest themselves in various ways in several organs at the same time (see list of symptoms below).
Often these patients have been back-and-forth to the GP or passed on by other medical and surgical specialties. They tend to be the cases that are difficult to diagnose, quantify, understand and detect with routine investigations.
My story
In September 2016, I became ill with acute Epstein Barr Virus Glandular Fever. I continued working, exercising and trying to lead a normal family and social life. I developed all the symptoms listed below, as well as post-exertional malaise (PEM).
Every time I tried to do anything challenging (mentally, physically or emotionally) I would experience severe symptom exacerbation and flu-like sore throats with head and neck pain. I couldn’t work, read or watch TV. I couldn’t look after myself, let alone my children, and could barely walk and digest food.
Eventually I was diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Often triggered by a viral infection, ME/CFS, can be distinguished from medical and psychiatric conditions by the presence of debilitating fatigue for more than six months and/or combinations of cognitive dysfunction, total body pain, unrefreshing sleep that does not restore normal function and PEM.1
I was never taught about ME/CFS at medical school and it certainly wasn’t in the MRCS examinations that I passed a decade ago.
I had a vague notion that it was an illness related to deconditioning, but I was wrong. ME/CFS is a serious neurological condition which can be fatal.
Given that my own prior understanding of ME/CFS was so misguided, I was not surprised to read in the BMJ that 90% of cases of ME/CFS are thought to go undiagnosed, suggesting that people with ME/CFS are substantially undercounted, underdiagnosed and undertreated.2
In another study, 41.9% of ME/CFS patients were told by emergency department staff that it was all in their heads.3 Biobank data suggests ME/CFS is a heritable condition estimated to affect over 286,000 people in the UK; this is more common than multiple sclerosis and HIV combined, and many patients are waiting years for a diagnosis.
Parliamentary proceedings
On the 24th January 2019, ME/CFS was debated for the first time in 20 years in the main chamber of the House of Commons.
It was unanimously agreed that: the Government should provide increased funding for biomedical research into the diagnosis and treatment of ME; the suspension of Graded Exercise Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as means of treatment should be supported; GP’s and medical professional’s training needed updating to ensure they are equipped with clear guidance on diagnosis of ME, as well as appropriate management advice to reflect international consensus on best practice and; the current trends of subjecting ME families to unjustified child protection procedures is concerning.4
Differential diagnosis
When you next see a patient with any of the symptoms listed below, ask them about PEM and consider ME/CFS as a differential diagnosis. While they may not leave your clinic with an operation booked, they may finally get a diagnosis, and the time spent in your clinic will have made a big difference to their lives.
Typical symptoms of ME/CFS
Further reading
a) ME Association Index of ME/CFS Published Research
b) Red blood cell deformability is diminished in patients with ME/CFS
c) Widespread brain metabolite abnormalities in ME/CFS
References
ME Association 2018/19 Clinical and Research Guide
Free copy available for health professionals!
We have funds set aside in our medical education budget to provide free copies of our clinical and research guide to GPs and other health professionals. Contact us with the details on the phone number above, or send head office an email.
Earth chakra stones keep you grounded and protected and connect you to Mother Gaia, and align you with the earths magnetic core. See list of specific stones to use.
Gaspeite has strong metaphysical properties and healing attributes. It heightens coincidence or synchronicity, aids weight loss, helps you to clear clutter and promotes spiritual growth.
Does your birthday fall in the Pisces sign? The Pisces Zodiac Sign starts on the 20th February. If this is your star sign take a look at the list of Pisces birthstones so you can work out which of the lovely stones for your sign will be the best to use. Pisceans have a kind and sensitive nature, so as you read through let your nature guide your choice.
Natrolite is a powerful zeolite that aids the nervous system to deal with high vibrations. It helps those with fear of water and can be used to aid personal and spiritual growth.
Healing frequencies to align your chakras (also for spiritual awakening!) - Many FREE audios to try!
Learn more & get the free app at http://onelink.to/pjmmu7 😀😀
Hypersthene aids recuperation after illness. Known as a magical stone that manifests solutions or answers to problems. Meditate with them to boost psychic gifts of clairaudience and/or clairvoyance.
Black Diopside is an excellent grounding stone that helps to balance your aura. Useful for anyone doing dowsing as they make a strong earth connection via the base and earth chakras.
Enhancing creativity can improve your life for the better. Learn way to unlock your creativity. Wear and use sacral chakra stones and others from the list of specific creativity crystals.
Blue Sapphire Meaning & Use: has an easily felt energy that boosts communication. Strong throat and third eye stone that triggers psychic gifts & lucid dreaming. Good healing action.
Iolite stimulates imagination, aids you with inner journeying and helps you to connect with angels. Assists you to develop psychic visions or clairvoyant abilities, quiets the mind and helps you meditate more easily.
Stilbite Meaning & Use: stimulates clear thinking & helps you to concentrate. Aids grief or loss and soothes the mind to help insomnia. Creates a relaxed state for meditation.
Lilac Lepidolite contains lithium which helps to relieve stress and anxiety. It brings emotional healing and peace, enhances meditation & creates a Divine connection. It aids joy, peace, serenity & love to flow into your being.
“Dear ME Association,
I’m 7 months’ pregnant and being offered the whooping cough vaccine, for my baby, so she’s covered for the first 8 weeks after she’s born, before she gets a booster.
However, I traced my M.E. back to a series of travel jabs 12 years ago, which could have been caused by one or a combination of inoculations.
Obviously I want the best for my wee one, but I’m scared the vaccine might trigger an M.E. relapse for me. Does anyone have experience of this? I’m not sure what to do.
My GP suggested that I ask the advice of M.E. experts, as she doesn’t have enough experience of this specific situation.
Thank you.”Message received via ME Association Facebook.
Dr Shepherd, Hon. Medical Adviser, ME Association, comments:
Here is some information that you could discuss with your GP:
Firstly, whooping cough vaccine is obviously recommended during pregnancy. This information comes from the NHS and explains why:
Whooping cough vaccination in pregnancy
There’s a lot of whooping cough (pertussis) around at the moment and babies who are too young to start their vaccinations are at greatest risk.
Young babies with whooping cough are often very unwell and most will be admitted to hospital because of their illness. When whooping cough is particularly severe, they can die.
Pregnant women can help protect their babies by getting vaccinated – ideally from 16 weeks up to 32 weeks pregnant. If for any reason you miss having the vaccine, you can still have it up until you go into labour.
Why are pregnant women advised to have the vaccine?
Getting vaccinated while you’re pregnant is highly effective in protecting your baby from developing whooping cough in the first few weeks of their life.
The immunity you get from the vaccine will pass to your baby through the placenta and provide passive protection for them until they are old enough to be routinely vaccinated against whooping cough at two months old.
NHS Choices: Whooping cough vaccine while pregnant
Secondly, like any vaccine, this one can cause a number of minor side-effects. Fortunately, serious side effects are very rare. Information from the NHS:
“You may have some mild side effects such as swelling, redness or tenderness where the vaccine is injected in your upper arm, just as you would with any vaccine. These only last a few days. Other side effects can include fever, irritation at the injection site, swelling of the vaccinated arm, loss of appetite, irritability and headache. Serious side effects are extremely rare.”
Thirdly, there is a lot of anecdotal information to indicate that a wide range of vaccinations can occasionally trigger ME/CFS or cause an exacerbation of existing symptoms in people with ME/CFS.
However, as far as whopping cough vaccine is concerned, we receive very little information from people with ME/CFS.
As there is no whooping cough-only vaccine, the vaccine that is given also protects against polio, diphtheria and tetanus. The vaccine that is used is called Boostrix IPV.
General information on vaccines and ME/CFS
Anecdotal evidence indicates that a number of vaccinations are occasionally capable of either triggering ME/CFS, or causing an exacerbation of pre-existing symptoms, and the UK CMO Working Group report acknowledged (in section 3.3.2) that vaccinations can occasionally act as a trigger factor in the development of ME/CFS. The CMO report can be e-accessed using the ‘external documents’ archive on the ME Association website.
The link is biologically plausible but there hasn’t been any really robust research carried out to investigate the role of vaccinations as immune system stressors in the causation of ME/CFS.
Two fairly recent published reports of interest relate to an MHRA review of HPV vaccine (Cervarix) and ME/CFS, and two case reports re: Swine Flu vaccine and ME/CFS from 2013/14.
I have a longstanding interest in the role of vaccinations in ME/CFS and my patient evidence on the subject, which is now quite substantial and includes a number of health workers who were vaccinated almost as a condition of employment, indicates that hepatitis B vaccine appears to play an unusual and significant role here.
This is supported by the results of the MEA website poll on the role of vaccinations as trigger factors for ME/CFS (see below).
ME Association Vaccine Information Leaflets:
ME Association 2010 Website Survey on Vaccine Triggers:
The ME Association
Please help us continue our work
If you have found this information helpful, then please donate – whatever you can afford – to help us continue with our work to make the UK a better place for people with M.E. Just click the button below to visit our JustGiving page:
Or why not join the ME Association as a member and become a part of our growing community? For a monthly (or annual) payment you will not only be helping to keep us doing what we do best, but will receive our exclusive ME Essential magazine.
ME Association Registered Charity Number 801279